When you think of the best rap cities which come to mind? New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and Oakland/San Francisco are easy ones. But if I go deeper through my Spotify library, it’s hard to ignore how many rappers and producers out of Detroit I see. Sure we got Eminem and Big Sean at the mainstream level but when we go more grimey we get into artists like Black Milk, Elzhi, Boldy James, Royce Da 5’9”, Slum Village, and Danny Brown. If we look solely at producers, we got J Dilla, Apollo Brown, Denaun Porter, and Black Milk popping up again because he’s one of the best dual threats out. I wanted to create a playlist dedicated to Detroit and Michigan as a whole and when I dive deep, I’m blown away by the amount of talent coming out there. While MC Breed and Esham were the first ones I was aware of out the 313, it was Eminem’s Infinite release that I feel first kicked off the true buzz out the “D”.
Eminem dropped this project in 1996 but I first heard about it in the Fall of 1998. I used to be on a lot of underground hip hop message boards back in the day when dial up internet was needed to hit the boards and learn about new hip hop from different regions of the U.S. I didn’t know much about Eminem other than he was a battle rapper out of Detroit. 2 of my closest friends went to school in the Bay so I’d constantly ask them to hit Berkeley to see if either Amoeba Records or Rasputin Records had the hard to find release. They never tracked it down and it’s a shame because that OG vinyl is going for $7K right now on eBay. Wild right? After Infinite, Dr. Dre heard Em on the radio and the rest is history.
One of the most well-rounded rappers out of Detroit is Eminem’s Bad Meets Evil rhyming mate, Royce Da 5’9”. Dr. Dre wanted to sign Royce as well but it ultimately fell through. While Royce had buzz from him affiliation with Eminem, he let the world know he was a standout over the DJ Premier track, “Hip Hop”. This track was recorded in ‘99/’00 but got delayed multiple times only to finally get released in 2002. Damn man… Royce is somebody who every couple of years will drop an album that you stop and say, wow… Royce is really good. Tracks like “Shake This” and “Tabernacle” stay in rotation for me after all these years.
While Em was blowing up worldwide, groups like Binary Star and Slum Village were buzzing back in Detroit in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I remember hearing about the Binary Star album on the same sites where I heard about Eminem. Binary Star’s members, One Be Lo aka OneManArmy and Senim Silla actually met and recorded the first tracks in a correctional facility which is pretty dope. Their first full length was Masters of the Universe which was a really good album led by standout tracks like “Reality Check” which I have here below. I remember buying this CD through mail order from a site called Sandbox Automatic way back then. That was one of the best sites for independent releases back in the day.
Slum Village was a crew out of Detroit made up of the producer/rapper J Dilla and rappers Baatin and T3. With Dilla aka Jay Dee’s production along with the unique rapping styles of all in the crew, they were a breath of fresh air where you didn’t really care where they were from. The Fantastic, Vol. 2 album was the first one that I picked up from the crew as I needed to have the track “Fall in Love” in my collection. Beautiful, timeless track right here.
Black Milk was the next artist out of Detroit that I had on rotation. Black Milk is one of the best rapper producers to do it yet he never blew up as I think he was happy just making music and keeping it true to who he was as an artist. If you look at Black’s catalog, I don’t think he’s ever missed on an album. He is very creative on the production tip and is never scared to try out some new styles. Black Milk never stays in the same lane. Let’s not overlook his mic skills either. He’s nice in front and behind the boards. Here’s the first track I heard from him called “Popular Demand”. If you’re a Kendrick fan, you probably known “Wanna Be Heard” where he did his thing over the “Popular Demand” beat.
Elzhi took over J Dilla’s spot in Slum Village back in the early 2000’s but I didn’t first here El until his solo debut, The Preface. Elzhi is one of the best with the pen of all time and you can’t really deny it if you know much of him. It’s a damn shame that The Preface isn’t available on Spotify or Apple Music meaning that it’s pretty much a lost album outside of rap nerds like me. Just listen to the intro from the album and you’ll get the idea of how dope it is.
While all of the artists I’ve mentioned here are ones I’ve listened to heavily over the years, it was Danny Brown that was my favorite out of Detroit. Danny popped off in the early 2000’s and while researching to write this article, I found out that Roc-A-Fella and G-Unit were courting him back in the day. But ultimately, Danny had to rock his punk shirts and skinny jeans and go after the music industry solo dolo. Danny’s album, XXX is a classic independent release and the vocal stylings he shows off throughout the album are unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Just give the track “30” a spin and tell me Danny ain’t a f’n rockstar.
In the Detroit mainstream of today you have artists like Tee Grizzley, 42 Dugg, and Babyface Ray getting their shine. But go down to the underground and you have Boldy James who has been holding it down for a minute. Boldy’s 4 album run with The Alchemist is truly something else. Boldy embodies that Detroit feel with his delivery and lyrics. Whenever I listen to a Boldy track I feel like I’m walking a street in the “D” that I should not be on. Boldy and ALC’s album Super Tecmo Bo is one of the best rap albums released in the past few years. If you haven’t peeped, just imagine a yacht rock hip hop album with the grimiest raps you’ve heard in a minute. Just listen to “Great Adventures” and tell me you don’t feel like you’re riding a yacht through the hoods of 313.
I could really go on and on about artists out of Detroit like Guilty Simpson, Dopehead, Apollo Brown, Bishop Lamont, and more but I’m ready to let this Detroit Rap Playlist speak for itself. If I’m missing some Detroit underground artists please let me know in the comments. I’m not up on the rap game like I used to be but always down to peep new shit. Shout out to all of the artists mentioned out the “D”, 313, and Michigan.